Rail campaigner says plans to close Bedford Station ticket office will …
Commuters Image: Govia Thameslink Rail
A campaigner for better rail services has attacked plans by Govia Thameslink, which operates services at Bedford Train Station, to close all their ticket offices, including the one at their Ashburnham Road station.
Cllr Ben Foloey (Green, Greyfriars) campaigns for better rail services in Bedford and is an admin of the Bedford Rail Campaigners Facebook group.
He believes these measures, which Govia Thameslink say are “to better support passengers by moving colleagues out from behind traditional ticket office windows”, will actually see people lose their jobs.
“I’ve just seen confirmation of what I feared,” said Cllr Foley in a statement on Facebook. “Bedford is among the stations where Thameslink are proposing to close the ticket office.
“For many Disabled people, ticket machines do not do the job well enough. Some fares for Disabled people aren’t even available from ticket machines.”
Govia Thameslink announced plans that include closing ticket offices yesterday, as part of a public consultation, which runs from 5 July to 26 July 2023.
While no final decisions have been made, they are proposing to close all their ticket offices and move staff onto station concourses, “to improve customer service and better reflect how most passengers now buy tickets”.
They say 9 in 10 ticket purchases are made outside of traditional ticket offices.
A statement from the rail company says that no station that is staffed today would become unstaffed; in-person help would still be available and accessibility support will continue.
But, Cllr Foley doesn’t feel confident that it won’t end up in redundancies.
“Despite the claim from the rail company that it is about ‘moving ticket office colleagues from behind traditional ticket offices windows, which would close, onto station concourses’, the aim is to save money – by having less staff at the station.,” he said.
“Saving money by having less staff is not moving staff from ticket offices onto station concourses, it’s moving them to the job centre,” added Cllr Foley.
The consultations, which are being managed by transport watchdogs London TravelWatch and Transport Focus on behalf of rail operators across the country, will ask rail users to consider how tickets are sold and how customer service can be improved.
Govia Thameslink says that “no stations that have staff today would become unstaffed, and station opening hours would remain the same”, but they do say that the hours when ticketing assistance would be available might change.
Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for GTR said: “The proposed changes reflect that the way customers buy tickets has changed significantly in recent years, with most people now buying online or from ticket machines.
“In fact, 9 in 10 are now bought away from the traditional ticket office and GTR has even fitted ticket readers across its network as so many customers now use digital tickets to travel.
She added that it was a “real opportunity to modernise and improve the experience of our customers” and that station staff would still have a “really valuable role in helping passengers”.
If these proposals go ahead, GTR would continue to provide assistance in line with its Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) commitments; for example, turn-up-and-go support such as ramp access for disabled customers.
Information about the consultation as detailed above, including FAQs, can be found on Thameslink’s website[1].
